Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; March 26, 2015)

Priyanka Chopra may have lost the National Award for Best Actress to Kangana Ranaut, but she seems to be going the whole hog to hail the latter’s achievement. Apart from congratulating her on Twitter, sources say PC also had a phone conversation with Kangs that lasted nearly half an hour.

A source says, “The two actress had become good friends during their Fashion (2008) days, but gradually drifted apart and did not acknowledge each other anymore. But now it looks like Priyanka wants to renew her friendship with Kangana.” Priyanka’s Mary Kom won the Best Popular Film honour while Kangana’s Queen bagged two awards in the Best Actress and Best Hindi Film categories. The 62nd National Awards
were announced on Tuesday.

Adds the source, “PC is in the US for her American TV show Quantico while Kangana is shooting for her upcoming film in Haryana. On Tuesday night, Priyanka called her ex-friend and chatted for at least 30 minutes, saying she was proud of her achievements, especially since she too hails from a small town and does not have a film background.” Priyanka’s spokesperson confirms the story.

Reportedly, Kangana was upset during the making of her film Shootout in Wadala (2013) when PeeCee (who only did an item number in the film) was given more prominence than her.

The same year, Priyanka was said to be maintaining distance from the Queen actress as she felt she had a ‘less meatier’ role in Krrish 3.